


What is Comfort?

by welcometomychaos



Category: Derry Girls (TV)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, James is hurt and Erin is there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 12:42:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20209939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/welcometomychaos/pseuds/welcometomychaos
Summary: A post 2x06 one-shot. James was a quiet English boy in a very loud Irish town. In Derry everyone knows everything about you and will go on constantly talking about anything from the super mundane to the life shattering news for days on end. Sometimes James finds himself just needing some time alone to breathe and hear himself think. One day some boys from the local Catholic boys school decide to mess with James and James goes for help to the person who has made him feel at home, Erin.





	What is Comfort?

**Author's Note:**

> AN: I’m trying my best with the Irish and English slang but I’m Canadian so… sorry. Also warning there’s swearing and some homophobic language.

James was a quiet English boy in a very loud Irish town. In Derry everyone knows everything about you and will go on constantly talking about anything from the super mundane to the life shattering news for days on end.

On this particular Thursday evening James needed to get out of his house, Aunt Deidre had just come home to find out that Michelle had failed a test because she skipped school to hang out with an older boy (James happened to know that this older boy was selling Michelle drugs, but he would never tell Aunt Deidre that, Michelle was way too scary to snitch on). The whole house was filled with yelling and James couldn't think over all the noise. He couldn't focus on the poem he was supposed to write for his English class with all of this incessant noise in his head and in his house.

James decided he needed to get out of the house to think about his poem because it was far too loud to do work at his house. James was quiet he figured his family would never even notice him leave, so he stopped part way through the poem he was trying to write for English class, grabbed a jacket and left for an evening walk. How was he supposed to write a poem on comfort when he felt so different to everybody else around him, the only effeminate boy, the only boy in his friend group, the only English one? Though James would never admit it out loud he sometimes wondered if staying in Derry was really what was best for him, as much as London was a bustling city it just seemed so much less chaotic than Derry. When James almost moved with his mom back to London, Michelle told him that he was a Derry Girl but even with that James sometimes couldn’t shake the feeling that he would never be comfortable in Derry and he didn't think he would be comfortable in London anymore either. 

James strolled along the streets of Derry lost in his thoughts until he felt something hit him in the shoulder, hard. James was nearly knocked off his feet but managed to steady himself. He looked up and saw two boys who he vaguely recognized as being in the year above him at the local boys Catholic school.

“Oy dickhead, you best watch where you’re — wait Ciaran do you see this shit? Ain’t this that English fag who goes to the girls school? Must be our lucky fucking day” said the shorter of the two boys. James could barely notice what the boy looked like through the focused look in his eyes and an extremely menacing smile. 

“Oh bang on Sean, just grand, this is. You know, we heard about you because me Da and I think it ain’t right that theres some English bloke poisoning the minds of the lasses. See, I don’t like fairy boys so what do you have to convince me not to eff you up right now?” said Ciaran. 

James looked at the two boys and paled a little. These boys looked like they would beat him in a fight easily because James was really not a fighter.

“Um well, listen, I’m not actually gay, and well I’m not trying to, um poison anyones mind” stuttered James in an attempt to calm the situation, while slowly starting to shift away from the boys to make it easier to run.

Sean let out a sharp laugh and said “Oh there’s that fucking accent, this English shite shouldn’t be walking our streets like he owns ‘em.”  
“Seems like we should teach this thick fecker a lesson” Ciaran said as the boys drew in a few steps closer to James.

James felt some adrenaline kick in while he said, “Listen I really don’t think this a good idea, in fact I’m quite knackered so I should just be leaving anyway, no need to teach me a lesson, I’m quite alright, I think," while James hoped that the boys would leave him alone. 

“Nope, I don’t think so” said Ciaran. James saw a slight opening still behind him so he turned on his heel and broke into a dead sprint. He didn't turn to look behind him but he heard the pounding of the other boys shoes on the sidewalk and hollering behind him.

About five houses down James started to have some hope, he was doing it, he was getting away when all of a sudden his ankles were pulled out from under him and then he was crashing face first towards the ground. He felt the breath exit his lungs in a puff. 

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Why wasn’t I paying more attention to where I was going I should have paid more attention was all that was running through James’ head.

“Cracking tackle” said Sean walking up behind James. James looked down and saw Ciaran on his legs.  
“Now I’m gonna say this once, feck off right out of Ireland you absolute shite” said Ciaran before standing up and kicking James in the face.

James’ hands flew to his face as he moved to stand up Sean kicked him in the stomach and sent James sprawling back down to the ground. James curled into the fetal position and felt a barrage of kicks on his legs, back, and head. James could vaguely hear the hooting and hollering coming from Sean and Ciaran.

“Oy you best stop that racket or you’ve got another thing coming” yelled a man out of the house window that the boys were in front of.

“Oh fuck you” yelled Sean before the man moved towards the door.

“I best be going anyway, me Ma needs me home” Ciaran said to Sean

“Ah fine” Sean said before squatting down to be closer to James’ face before forcefully saying to him “but you best have learned your lesson, fucker.” Then Sean punched James in the eye and got up to walk back over to Ciaran.

The boys started to leave then James felt one last kick in his shoulder for good measure. James lay on the ground until he heard their steps and raucous laughter disappear into the night. 

Okay, time to get up, James thought to himself. He pushed himself up off the concrete of the sidewalk with his arms shaking until he could stand. He stood there assessing the damage. 

My legs are gonna bruise, they hurt but nothing seems broken. The same goes for my back. My head really hurts and oh god, it feels like my nose is broken from the tackle. James felt a little better knowing at least he was alive and not too badly hurt, he could heal from this. He lifted his sweater sleeve to his nose and wiped at the blood dripping down his face.

James then had to stop and wonder where he was going to go. He looked around and tried to see where he even was. His body started walking as he worried about what he was going to tell his aunt and his cousin. His aunt would be so upset and James really didn't want to add another worry onto her plate. Then there was Michelle, she would never let him live this down if she found out he got beat up for being English. Even if he wasn’t mocked mercilessly for it she would probably go try to kill the boys who beat him up and James didn’t want their murder on his hands. 

He looked up at the house right in front of him, it was the Quinn house. James had never intended to come to Erin’s house, but here he was. Maybe this was where he was walking all along. 

James wasn’t really sure when he started to crush on Erin. From the first moment he saw her he recognized that she was pretty. But Erin was so much more than pretty, she was also smart, insightful, dedicated, brave, brash, and just so overwhelmingly Erin. James fully believed that Erin could never and would never be interested in him so there was no point to knock on her door and embarrass himself in front of her. James figured that this night was already so terrible that even if Erin kicked him out then the night couldn't get any worse and James really wanted to see a friendly face, so he walked up and knocked on the door. He heard Erin’s Granda Joe yell out for someone to go get the door.

Erin opened the door, she was in a skirt and a t-shirt with her hair tied up.

“Oh James, what are you doing here” she said surprised, then as James shifted towards the warm light of the house she saw the black eye and blood that was still sort of running down his face. 

“Wait, what fecking happened to you, actually never mind that right now, come in first,” Erin said with concern creasing her face.

“Who was it wain? They're right interrupting Coronation Street, they are” called Erin’s Ma Mary.

“Oh ma don’t worry its just James over to work on our English assignment, I’m just gonna grab us tea and head to my room” Erin yelled back before leaning over to James to whisper “now go wait in my room and I’ll be there in a minute”.

“Oh, hello James dearie” called Mary. James could hear Joe grumble a little bit.

“Um hello, I just need to go to the toilet so I can’t come say hello now but I’ll see you later,” James called back before walking upstairs to wait in Erin’s room. He sat at the edge of her bed using his sweater as a tissue so he wouldn’t get blood all over her things. 

Erin walked back up the stairs and into her room carrying paper towels, a bowl of water, and a bag of frozen peas. She sat next to him on the bed, and even through all his pain he was extremely aware of his heart beating harder in his chest, so hard that James figured it might rip itself right out of his body and leave him dead in Erin’s room.

“James, put these peas on your eyes and you better start telling me what the feck happened to you,” Erin said while dipping some paper towels into water.

“Um, well, you see I was just going on a walk and some lads from the boys school recognized me and really didn't like me,” said James. Erin then dabbed the paper towel onto his nose and chin to wipe off the blood. James winced in pain from the pressure of the paper towel on his nose.

“You look right brutal, these blokes really did a number on you,” Erin muttered in a low voice just above a whisper before her voice got louder to say, “and what were you doing walking around like that, you eejit.”   
James’ face fell and he shrugged his shoulders. They both sat there in silence while Erin tried to help James with his injuries. 

After what seemed like an eternity to James but was probably only two minutes Erin broke the silence by clearing her voice.

“You know James, you can’t go getting yourself hurt like this. Everyone knows theres five Derry Girls in our group and we can’t have one of us getting fecking banjaxed,” Erin said in a very matter of fact way.

“I guess I just needed some space, everything was just becoming a bit too much.”

“What is too much?” Erin asked with a confused look on her face. Erin put down the bowl of now bloody water and the roll of paper towels on the ground. James followed in suit, gently putting down the bag of peas. He started wringing his hands together while gathering an answer.

“I just don’t feel like I belong anywhere Erin, I just wanted to go for a walk I wasn't trying to cause any trouble,” said James. 

“You belong here. You belong with the Derry Girls. You belong with us, we wouldn't be us without you. You belong with me, James. Do you know what it felt like when I thought you were moving back to England? Because it felt like utter shite and I can’t handle losing you again.” Erin said with fire burning in her eyes.

James was so choked up he could nearly cry. 

“Erin, do you really feel that way?” James asked.

“Are you thick? Of course that’s the truth,” Erin said.

James heart soared to know that Erin cared about him so much. He tried not to think too much about what he was about to do, because he was moving before he could even stop himself. 

James leaned a few inches forward and kissed Erin. Erin didn’t respond immediately so James reached a hand up to her face, then all of a sudden Erin was a flurry of movement. She moved her body right up to James and grabbed the collar on his jacket to bring him even closer. They stayed in a sweet and passionate kiss for a few moments before James pulled away.

“So…” James trailed off, hoping that Erin would say something.

“So you like me then?” Erin asked.

“Erin, I like you so much,” James said with a smile.

“Grand… well, I like you too,” Erin said while trying to act nonchalant. 

“When did you know you liked me?” James asked.

“You’ve always been important to me, but when you took me to that dance, that was the nicest thing any lad has ever done for me and I just…” Erin’s sentence trailed off as she sat there looking sheepish. 

“So what do you want to do from here?” James asked.

“I mean I think we should maybe kiss again first, because when me family finds out we’re together its going to get a lot harder to do this.”

“So, we’re together then?” James asked

“Aye,” Erin responded.

“That sounds good to me” James said with a smile.

Then Erin nodded her head as if her internal dialogue had settled and she leaned over to resume kissing James. 

James was content. He briefly thought to himself that this was his comfortable place, wrapped in Erin’s arms Derry seemed a little less loud and a lot less confusing. He knew telling people they were together wouldn’t be easy but he really didn’t care. James knew that when he had to go home he would be able to write his poem about how he was comfortable not from a place, but a person, and that person was Erin Quinn.


End file.
